How Can You Blog and Call yourself Disabled?

    Please read the comment below:

"Are you finding that people are making accusations that if you can blog, you can work? Is that what you are saying? I just want to be clear. And if so, how do you respond to these people? I think personally that that is preposterous, but would like to hear others' opinions on this issue. How sad if the one thing many disabled people are able to do from home or bed will end up working against them because some people cannot accept that some are truly to sick or in too much pain to do regular work on a professional level and consistent basis."

     I have disability and collect social security.  By all measures, I'm disabled.  But the writer above points out that an agency or company could claim that if we blog, we could also work!

     Great point.  It hasn't (yet) come-up with me, but perhaps it has with you.  If so, drop a line.  I'm afraid to think that the writer of the above might be correct, although I haven't heard of anyone losing benefits because they blog; this doesn't mean it couldn't or doesn't happen.

     Look how your treated at the Social Security office.

     It seemed like a good idea to list sites among our community, the disabled, because I's love to know what others like me do, write ,etc.

     I, for one, am already out.  In light of the above comment, please be guided by your own vulnerability. 

     All comments on this topic may be sent in anonymously, and I'll print them.  Your comments to this page need not include any information that might track back to you.

     If I get swamped I'll assign the digit one to the first comment, two to the second, etc. so that writers of future comment can refer by number to specific comments.  God bless, Colin

Comments

[zed null]

the notorious Bush administration... as a "means to save social security from bankruptcy"... has been... trying to "come up with a plan"... to DISMANTLE the landmark, AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT of 1987(?)... to, force the disabled... to "get part time jobs"... (28 to 32 hours a week)... and, "cut their disability award and benefits in half" (since, their prospective employer is paying them)... but, you "get to keep" medicare/medicaid as your insurance provider!!!

menial jobs like: "receptionists" in building lobbys, file clerks, "bus boys" in restaurants, and "greeters" (like the "old geezers" that "say hello" to you, at places like IKEA and WAL MART!!!

jobs, that the "able bodied" DON'T wanna do... because, "they DON'T PAY anything!!!

so far, lobbyists for disability rights in washington... have been able to DEFEAT those efforts!!!

they've even GONE SO FAR... as to HIRE, someone who's NOT disabled... over, truly disabled candidates... who applied for the job... to be, the NEW DIRECTOR of DISABILITY RIGHTS in washington... bastards!!!

(NOTE: the PREVIOUS DIRECTOR... Dustin Dart... until he passed away... as a result of complications to his disability... was a quadraplegic)!!!

for those who are interested... there's an annual disability conference... held in los angeles... called: Respectability... which "brings together"... physically and mentally disabled persons... as ONE GROUP... to, CONTINUE TO FIGHT... the EFFORTS of the BUSH CAMPAIGN... and, for MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING and SUPPORT... of ALL disabled people... in ALL parts of the country... to SEE THEMSELVES as ONE COMMUNITY... and, SPEAK... as ONE VOICE!!!

this year, it will be held in December... more info to follow... as, the date gets set/becomes closer!!!

[Anne McGill]

If I could work, I would. Instead I write. I have never worried that this could be miscontrued as a job.

I sing in my car, does that mean I'm a singer? I acted in high school, does that mean I'm an actor? I doodle when I'm on the phone, does that make me an artist?

Of course not.

The blog is therapy to me and I believe to most of us. I don't write because it's a job, I write because I need to. It's a way of communicating. I spend most of my time alone and I need to "talk" I do that by writing.

If someone thinks it' s a job, then I guess they are just plain wrong. I don't know of a job that lets you work in your pajamas, take weeks off at a time with no communication because I'm in pain. Work in the middle of the night when I can't sleep and keep my laptop on my belly while I"m lying in bed.

Anne

[Colin]

Hi Colin,
Well, I live in the UK and have been disabled for 20 years with ankylosing spondylitis.
Yes I blog, but I can't sit at it all day so I break it down into little chunks and do a bit at a time.
On a good day I can get out and about, but people may not see me for weeks purely because I cannot get out.
The majority of people have the wrong mindset about disabilities and if you have't got a limb missing then hey, you're ok....
The system in the UK is pretty much the same, depending on Social Security payments, and when they overhaul the system, the first group they pick on are the long term disabled....it's sad really.
I'd love nothing more than to be able to work again....but I know it's not going to happen, so I blog on 2 blogs and enjoy it because I can communicate with a wide range of people all with different ideas and characteristics, which is great.

All the best
Colin
other blog is: http://grottynosh.wordpress.com

[zed null]

To speak out against this disheartening view on what is considered "disability", come to Respect-ABILITY Conference 2007!

(Sponsored by: Disability Rights Center of California, formerly the Western Center on Disability Rights)

Important - SAVE THE DATE!

Respect-ABILITY Conference 2007

October 12 & 13, 2007

LAX Marriot Hotel
5855 West Century Bl,
Los Angeles, CA 90045

Join hundreds of persons with disabilities and disability rights advocates throughout California, as we come together, to discuss, share, and learn about issues that impact and are important to the disability community.

Learn about emerging issues, strategies, and advocacy tools that can help you protect your rights and make positive changes in your community.

For more info on how to join the Respect-ABILITY Coalition or the Respect-ABILITY Conference 2007,

contact: John Longoria (213) 736-8305, (213) 736-8310 (TEXT) or, [email protected]

[zed null]

And to continue this discussion...

a close female friend of my for nearly 20 years... who's going to be turning 47 toward the end of this month... just received a notice from Social Security, that "she's no longer disabled", and "that her benefits are going to be cut off", since "she's able to return to work"!!!

Now... for TWENTY YEARS (since 1986)... she's received Social Security benefits checks (SSI & SSDI), due to her history of chronic depression (she has obsessive compulsive disorder and she hoards), decreased cognitive skills (due to closed head trauma from a car accident), scholiosis, disc herniation with bone spurs (the same car accident), fibromyalgia, and incontinence due to fibroids in her bladder and uterus...

now, all of a sudden... some worker at Social Security sends her a notice, that "they've reviewed her original claim", and "all of her medical records (dating back 20 years to 1986) supporting her claim", and "now have decided that SHE'S NO LONGER DISABLED!!!

to add INSULT TO INJURY... on the bottom of her "decision" notice... they wrote: "we know that you have no skills, but you SHOULD BE ABLE TO FIND SOME TYPE OF WORK THAT YOU CAN DO... that will PAY YOU ENOUGH MONEY to live on and support yourself!!!

she lives in California... one of the MOST EXPENSIVE PLACES in the U S to live...

also... they "checked in to her banking records"... without notifying her... (part of Bush's Homeland Security Legislation!!!) since she's living "beyond her means"... by playing "credit card rodeo" with 7 credit cards... they "think that she's recovered from her disabilities"!!!

she's filing an appeal... but, she's been told... that her "appeal" could take 10 years to go to a hearing!!!

in the mean time... she's going to end up homeless and without funds to support herself!!!

so... there's "more evidence"... on how Bush and his policies... are "trying to save Medicare", by "kicking people off of Medicare's disabled list"... and, "into the streets"!!!

[SeeKim]

I quite like to vomit blood when I read that when you can blog, you can work. I can also say: when you can speak, you can work, as what else does a politician do than speak?

I do agree that bloggers make money, but those ones are the fully non-disabled ones working a full shift blogging.

But I understand social security: if you have only 1 extra thing to work, they will grab it to tell you that you cannot rely on social security.

I also know that there are people misusing social security, but people with chronic pain are quite different than the "I hate society yet love social insurence guys".

Having seen the social security system inside out since father was diagnosed with metastatic liver cancer: this freaking social security that we had been contributing for: we still had to beg and my hubby almost got into a fist fight with a so called social worker. And my hubby is the peacefull kind one...

Having said so the situation is more complicated and its all about choices: if you find it more important to shoot bullits in Iraq than to take care of your own people in your background, that's the main decision you make.

[Earnest Collins]

Where there is no compassion there is no "disability". One can always be a doorstop! Right?

The most basic and essential question is this; "What's the envelop?". Are we Humanity trying to make our science of economics work for us? . . .
Or is the envelop Capitalist ecomomics? With us trying to fit Humanity in edge wise? . . . when and where it has
a purpose?

You must understand. WE DO
decide.

Earnest Collins